


Mercy

by Izvin



Category: Original Work
Genre: Chases, Forests, Gen, Late at Night, Medicine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 19:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20953511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izvin/pseuds/Izvin
Summary: A short grim thing about some people's standards.





	Mercy

He runs through the dark forest. Breathless, staggering, bleeding, clutching a precious vial of medicine in his fist. Outlines of trees pass by, painfully stark against sky of such deep blue, he could drown in it, and ground is a maddening black mess eager to swallow him in some trap of knotted foliage. He stumbles and falls every now and then. But he rises over and over too. He is in hurry.

With hiss he pulls himself over a fallen tree only to slip on the other side, fall on his nose and tumble down a steep slope. Reluctant cry escapes his throat and once his body stops rolling, he stiffens and listens full of terror. Did they hear him? Seconds pass, his broken nose and other wounds throb and burn in near agony and his mind is consumed by even worse one. Maybe they are approaching right now. He can't really say, for his heart beats so loudly, it drowns out all the other sounds. He wishes, he could just crawl into some hole and hide there, but he must continue no matter what danger, he might have attracted with this unfortunate accident.

Suppresing pained whine he cautiously rises a little. His eyes search darkening woods for any movement, but he can't espie anything. He can't afford to waste any more time either. Ignoring dizzying ache of his bruised exhausted body, he springs to haste anew. Quickly filled with hope and relief after every succesfully covered metre, he is suddenly thrown of guard by dark figure stepping into his path. Stranger laughs at his agitation and draws out a short sword. Slick steel gleams in darkness like a hungry claw.

"Did you really think you could escape?"

"Have a mercy! I am sorry for stealing it. But I had to. They need that tinkture really bad. Without it they stand no chance."

"Exactly, that is why we withold it."

"But children...!"

"... die every day and are born just as often. Others will live. You on the other hand..."

Stranger's blade strikes as swiftly as a viper and finishes the sentence more poignantly than words ever could.


End file.
